Life without taps

A simulation game for KS2 and KS3

With background information and activities

What’s it like to live without easy access to clean water

bridgesglobal.org.uk cafod.org.uk

Life without Taps – A simulation game for KS2 and KS3 2

Introduction ..................................................................................... 2

Summary and aims of the game ........................... 3

The players and leaders: What you will need ................................................................. 4

Background information – the issues ........... 5

Zimbabwe .......................................................................................... 6

Where is the best place to get water from? ........................................................................... 7

How to play – preparation ........................................... 8

Introductory activities ...................................................... 9

The game ...........................................................................................10

Post game discussion .......................................................12

Game sheets and templates ...................................13

Follow up work KS2 ..............................................................18

Follow up work KS3 ..............................................................21

Real lives – three case studies ............................ 24

The Water Issues Tree sheet................................... 28

Water solutions – action ranking sheet ........................................................ 29

Water Action Plan sheet ............................................. 30

Further information and links ............................... 31

IntroductionAcross the world, one in ten people live without access to clean water. This affects their lives in many ways including their ability to prosper, access to education, health, and their ability to have time for recreation.

Here in the UK, even the water used to flush most of our toilets has been treated to the same standard as our drinking water. Our houses have an ever increasing number of taps, showers and toilets.

Life Without Taps is a game to help young people engage with the problem of living without easy access to clean water and to identify with the people who have to cope with this.



Participants form ‘family’ groups and imagine they are farmers in Zimbabwe, Southern Africa, in a village where their pump has broken down.

Each group has to work together to ‘collect’ water from a ‘river’ two kilometres away. They need enough to meet their family’s needs, for things such as drinking water and to water crops for food.

During the game, the leader gives ‘chance cards’ to particular groups, who then have to deal with changes to their situation that will affect their ability to collect enough water.

Each family fills in a family sheet to show how many of their needs they have been able to fulfil through collecting water.

The first family to collect the minimum daily amount of water is the winner.

Aims of the game:To show how hard it is to obtain enough water for daily life, in an area where there are no taps nearby and the water supply is unreliable and potentially polluted.

To show the difference not having easy access to water can make to a person’s life and how this relates to poverty.

To help pupils empathise with people in developing countries without good access to safe, clean water.

To motivate pupils to take action towards clean water for all.

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The PlayersThis game is aimed at Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3 pupils. For Key Stage 3 pupils it could form part of a carousel of activities for a focus day on global issues.

It is suitable for groups of up to 30 players, provided there is adequate room to move about.

The Leader and the StorekeeperYou will need two adults to run the game. One adult will lead the game, ie. check no-one is cheating, encourage ‘families’ to work well together, and give out more scrap paper. The Leader will decide when to give out ‘chance cards’ and discusses their implications with the group. S/he draws the game to a close and leads a reflection time.

The other adult acts as the Storekeeper and checks that families have correctly ‘filled’ their buckets. S/he gives out Item Cards as families gain them through collecting water and keeps a tally of crops growing for each family.

Alternatively, two responsible pupils could manage the Storekeeper’s table.

What you will need(with about 30 pupils playing)

A large room or hall

One long piece of blue/ brown cloth or a bench

6 ‘families’ of 4 or 5 people

6 long tables with enough chairs

6 buckets labelled Family A, B etc

The following items are shared between the 6 Family buckets

6 x Family sheets see p.16

24 x sheets of A4 scrap paper, clean on one side

12 x blue and 12 brown crayons

12 x pencils

6 x bucket templates

12 x pairs of scissors

On another table set up as the ‘Storekeeper’s table’, you will need

6 copies of the Item cards sheet on p.13 These need to be cut up and put into separate piles for each item

1 Tally sheet (p.17) to record each family’s progress

The Leader of the game will need

Copies of the Chance cards on p.15

Extra scrap paper, to distribute sparingly (approx. 26 pieces of A4)



Water issuesThe game is set in Zimbabwe, but could just as easily be set in almost any other sub Saharan country. Access to water is a major issue for people all over the world and water collection forms a major part of women’s daily lives in many countries.

In September 2000 the United Nations agreed on 8 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to reduce poverty by 2015. Goal 7 includes a target to halve the number of people without access to safe drinking water and decent sanitation. Although great progress has been made towards this goal, sub-Saharan Africa still suffers from lack of access to safe water and toilets. In 2010, 65% of water points e.g. wells or pumps in rural Zimbabwe were not working properly. In some parts of Africa the water situation has worsened since 2000, due to more frequent periods of drought, deforestation and desertification.

Time spent collecting water is one of the major reasons why many girls still do not go to school, even though primary education is generally free. Lack of water affects families’ ability to grow enough crops to eat or sell. This affects the ability of subsistence farmers to expand their income and develop their lives. Lack of water and drinking polluted water affects health and kills millions of children, especially infants under five, through diarrhoea and water borne diseases such as cholera.

The production of cash crops, such as tobacco and cotton, can have dire consequences on water supplies for local people, whilst multinational companies reap rich benefits from the sale of such commodities.

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Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe is named after the ancient city of Great Zimbabwe that was built between the 12th and 15th centuries and whose remains can still be seen today. There are 11 million Zimbabweans, with 2 million living in the capital city, Harare.

Zimbabwe is a beautiful country, known in the past as the ‘bread basket of Africa’ because of its rich agricultural land where maize, cotton, tobacco, wheat, coffee, sugar cane and peanuts are grown.

The spectacular Victoria Falls, the great Zambezi River and Hwange National Park are just some of its tourist attractions. There are many elephants and other game. Zimbabwe is rich in natural resources, including coal, gold and copper that are mined.

Unfortunately, political and economic problems have had a disastrous effect on the prosperity of the country, causing great hardship for people both in remote rural areas and major urban districts. Obtaining sufficient clean water has become an increasing problem, not just for the rural poor, but also for people living in the towns and cities.

Zimbabwe

UK

Downtown Harare



Where’s the best place to get water?In the game, the ‘families’ collect water from a river. Water in such a rural area might be collected from a number of sources, each with advantages and disadvantages. You may wish to discuss this with the group before play starts. See the table below.

Source of water Advantages Disadvantages

River Free.

Fast flowing water can be aerated.

Water likely to be polluted by animal faeces and could carry diseases such as cholera.

Danger of hippos and crocodiles attacking while water collected.

Danger of drowning especially in rainy season.

Pump Water is from deep underground and less likely to be polluted.

Water less likely to run dry.

Can be very expensive digging a borehole for the pump; several boreholes may need to be dug before a good supply is found.

Can be hard work to pump the water up.

If pump breaks down, someone needs to know how to mend it. Parts must be fetched and paid for.

Well If the well is deep enough, water likely to be less polluted than river and lake.

Can be dangerous digging the well, especially without safety equipment.

If the well is not covered up, danger of contamination.

Waterhole

(this is usually in a dry riverbed)

Free. Erratic supply.

May have to wait a long time for the hole to fill up after water is drawn.

Rainwater harvesting

i.e. collecting rainwater from roofs and roads etc.

Rainwater should be relatively clean.

Much cheaper than the cost of digging a borehole for a pump.

Rainwater can be harvested using recycled materials e.g. old containers attached to pipes from roofs, roads etc.

Rainfall is increasingly erratic in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa.

Tiled or zinc roofs are needed along with guttering and a storage system.



Storekeeper’s table

The river

Family A Family B

Family C Family D

Family E Family F

Preparation1. Make a copy of the Family sheet for

each ‘family’.

2. Make enough photocopies of the pictures of items needed (p.13) depending on number of ‘families’ playing i.e. one of each item for each family. Cut out.

3. Photocopy the Tally sheet for the ‘storekeeper’.

4. Photocopy the Chance cards onto a piece of card and cut out.

5. Gather plenty of scrap paper, clean on one side. approx. 50 sheets for 6 ‘families’.

6. Set up the room.

Place 2 lines of 3 tables down the middle of the room with plenty of space for getting up and down.

At one end of the room, set up the Storekeeper’s table with the card items on it and the tally sheet.

At the other end of the room, lay a long piece of blue/brown cloth e.g. old curtain or a bench to denote where the river is. Place buckets on or under the end of each Family’s table with the equipment they need to ‘collect’ water.



Introduction and a selection of warm up activities (15 – 30 mins) Introduce the workshop – they are going to play a game to see what it is like to live without much water. They will imagine they are living in a small, remote village in Zimbabwe, Southern Africa (indicate Zimbabwe on a map or globe) where people do not have taps in their houses and the one village pump has broken down – not for the first time. The people on each table represent one family. First they are going to think about water use.

1. Favourite drink KS2

Go round the class and ask each person to name a drink they like; encourage them to think of different drinks. Write up the names of the different drinks. Remind the class that all these drinks need water. In this session they are going to think about people who do not have such a choice about what they can drink. Did they know that it takes about 2.5 litres to produce a litre of fizzy cola drink?

2. Water use KS2 or KS3

Ask pupils in small groups to come up with as many uses for water as possible. Encourage them to think of less obvious water usage e.g. swimming pool, golf course, washing car. What is water used for in factories/ power stations? Gather ideas on flipchart paper or board.

Next ask pupils which items on the list are things that someone in a less developed country living in a small village would not use water for e.g. swimming pool, golf course. Does everyone in a less developed country not have much water? Where in a Less Economically Developed Country (LEDC) might you find swimming pools and golf courses?

And/or

3. Taps and toilets KS2 or KS3

Ask pupils in small groups to make a tally of how many taps they have in their houses – including shower taps. Then ask them to use a tally to add up how many toilets they have.

Build up on the board the results to show how many taps and toilets the whole class has.

If the class represented the children in a village in Zimbabwe, how many taps or toilets might they have?

(There is an infographic with useful statistics at angelamorelli.com/water)

And /or

4. Village and city life KS2 or KS3

Show some photos from Zimbabwe and other countries in Southern Africa of life in a city, town and a village. It is very important to get across the message that not everyone has to walk miles for water, although in the countryside there are still many people who do.



Playing the game (30 mins)Explain that since the village pump has broken down, each family must fetch water from a river about 3 km away. (Name a place 3 km from your school to give an idea of the distance). Make it clear that pupils understand that not everyone in Zimbabwe gets their water in this way, but there are still many people who do. Currently, about one in three rural Zimbabweans do not have access to clean water.

Explain that the cards they are going to collect represent seven basic tasks for which each family requires water. Hold up a card of each item and ask pupils to guess which water need each card represents. (Check understanding of the term ‘cash crops’, meaning the crops to earn money for things the family cannot grow, as distinct from ‘food crops’ for crops for the farmers to eat themselves).

What the families must do. To ‘fetch’ water, each family must cut out ‘buckets’ using the template and colour them in.

They must take one completed ‘bucket’ of water at a time and place it in their real bucket. One person from each family must carry this on their heads via the ‘river’ to the Storekeeper, who will then give them an item in return. In the case of food or cash crops, which each need four ‘buckets’ of water, the Storekeeper will keep a tally of buckets for the family until they have collected enough.

Explain that, although clothes would actually be washed at the river and animals taken to the river to drink, for ease of play all the water needs are satisfied in the same way.

Each family keeps a record of what they have collected on their Family sheet.

The seven basic tasks

Cup – water to drink

Soap – water to wash with

Cloth – water to wash clothes with

Cotton – water to grow cash crops

Pot – water to cook with

Corn – water to grow

food crops

Goat – water to give

to animals



The Storekeeper’s role If a coloured in bucket is acceptable, the Storekeeper asks the family member who brought it which item they would like. S/he hands over the appropriate item card and ticks this off against that family on the Tally sheet. (Crops need four buckets of water, so the Storekeeper must keep a tally of buckets brought for these on the Tally Sheet).

The Storekeeper is allowed to reject buckets. For example, the river water is likely to be full of sediment and therefore brown, so the Storekeeper could reject blue coloured buckets. The Storekeeper can be very strict about colouring in, especially at the start of play or if one family is very speedy.

The Leader’s role The Leader explains the game and the rules (see below) and gives out a bucket, filled with all the equipment, to each family. The Leader must ensure that families are not cheating or running with the bucket, distribute extra scrap paper and give out the Chance cards about half way through the game. All the families must listen as each family reads out their Chance card.

NB. It is important that one family ends up with the card to say that they have a new pump, in order to show the difference that this can make.

If you have fewer than 6 groups, take out any extra cards, but not the one about the pump.

Rules of the gameBuckets must be cut out one at a time

Only one paper bucket can be taken to the Storekeeper at a time

No running with the buckets

No short cuts – everyone goes via the river to the Storekeeper

Only one person can leave their Family table at a time

Families may collect items in any order. They only need one of each of the seven items to represent that their minimum daily water requirements have been met.

The game can finish when the first family has everything on the list. If most of the others are lagging far behind, the winning group can continue to earn an extra cotton cash crop until one or two other families also have what they need.



Some questions and points to draw out: This game only represented fetching water for one day’s needs. How would you feel if you had to do this every day?

Even by working very hard, some of groups still did not end up with enough water for all their needs. People in this situation may work hard to survive, but still may not have the basics.

Under these conditions, co-operation is very important if a family is to survive.

In this game, all members of the families were working to get water; who would do this job in reality? What effect does this have on their lives? (Effects on girls include interrupted education, poor health and a reduced ability to earn money to buy things the family cannot grow).

Pupils were only carrying empty buckets. Real buckets and containers could weigh 12kg or more (1 litre of water = 1kg). Ask which parts of their body would hurt if they did this day in, day out.

One of the Chance cards mentions the river drying up. Many areas in sub-Saharan Africa are struggling with increasing water shortages. Why is drought an increasing problem?

Is there any connection with our lifestyle in More Economically Developed Countries? (eg. carbon emissions affecting the climate globally, tourism in Less Economically Developed Countries using large amounts of water).

Some cash crops need a lot of water – eg. cotton. What effect might using a lot of water in this way have on the local people? If people are working on large sugar plantations and farms, who will get most of the money for the cash crops they water?

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Post game discussion (15 mins) Ask the whole group how they felt as they were playing the game. What made things hard for them? What made things better? What difference would it have made if you knew you really needed the water?



DRINKING CUP COOKING POT

SOAP MAIZE COB

AFRICAN CLOTH GOAT

COTTON COTTON

Life without Taps – Game sheet 1: Item cards Make one copy per family and cut out.



Life without Taps – Game sheet 2: Bucket templates One bucket template needed per ‘family’. Copy onto card.



Life without Taps – Game sheet 3: Chance cards For the Leader to distribute. Make one copy only per class and cut out.

Your village now has a pump nearby so you can get your water much more quickly.

One of your young relatives got sick and has died. All your family must go to the funeral.

You have hurt your back from carrying so much water. It is so hard to carry water now.

There has been no rain this year. The river you collect water from is dry.

The water in the river is dirty.

The track home is very rough. You have fallen and spilled the water in your bucket.

Each bucket you produce is worth 2 buckets.

Everyone stops work for 5 minutes.

You must do all work with the opposite hand to normal (left hand if you are right handed) for 5 minutes.

One person must stop work to go and look for more water.

3 people in your family are ill from drinking dirty water. They must stop working for 5 minutes.

You must tear up any half finished buckets.



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1. A postcard from home: An empathy and action activity (45-60 mins)

Subjects: Literacy, Geography, RE, Citizenship, PSHE and SEN at KS3

You will need: Copies of Talent’s Story on p.24, scissors, A5 card for each pupil.

Aim: To help pupils empathise with someone in a very different situation and to take action to improve their situation.

Give each family group a copy of Talent’s story on p.24 to cut up. Match the photos to the story.

(The text and photos match as follows: A5, B4, C1, D6, E2, F3).

Each group reads Talent’s story aloud.

Ask pupils to discuss in pairs how they would feel if they were Talent. What surprises or shocks them about her story?

Collect and write up a list of the different feelings that Talent might have. What can she do about her situation? Ask pupils how they feel about it and write these down in a separate list. What is the difference between their feelings

and hers? Explain that people of all ages can write to the government about issues they care about, including issues in other countries. They are going to let their MP know what they think about this important issue.

Ask pupils to look at the picture of Talent carrying the container. Give each pupil an A5 piece of card. On one side they draw a picture a picture of themselves, carrying a container of water by their house.

Pupils then label the picture with their name and on the other side write about how they feel about other people having to live without access to clean water, how they would feel if they had to carry water every day and what they want to change.

These cards could then be sent to your MP to ask him or her to highlight the need for UK support on improving global water supplies.

Pupils can then try to retell Talent’s story, using just the photos.



2. Nothing like my life? Imagining other lives (approx 45-60 mins)

Subjects: English, Geography, RE, Citizenship, Drama

You will need: Copies of Zimi’s story on p.25, scrap paper and pens.

Aim: To understand issues created by poor access to clean water and to empathise with others.

a) Pupils read Zimi’s story and examine the photos. Discuss in pairs. What is the hardest thing about Zimi’s life? Imagine you were in her family. Ask pupils in small groups to make a list of things that would be the same about your life if you were in rural Zimbabwe eg. what you would do each day and another of the things that would be different. Tick differences you would enjoy and underline any differences that you would not enjoy. Discuss as a class.

Same as life in UK Different from life in UK

eg. Goes to school eg. No water in the school building

b) Ask pupils in pairs to imagine what Zimi and her Auntie might have said to each other on the day they discovered that the pump did not work. What might they have been worried about? What action might they need to take? Ask groups of 4 or 5 to play the parts of Zimi, her Auntie, brother and cousins and to create a freeze drama with static mime or tableaux, using the following as prompts for them to show:

No clean water

1. The cause of the problem

2. The effects of the problem (4-5)

3. Solving the problem

4. How everyone feels after the problem is solved

Ask each group to perform their freeze drama.

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c) Imagine Zimi going to visit a rich family in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia, or coming to the UK to visit your school. What might she be surprised by or comment on? What questions might she ask about how you use water? Write a letter from Zimi in the UK to her Auntie.

After b) or c), ask pupils what they have learned about children living without clean water close by.



3. Watermatics. Inspiring pupils to handle data (Open-ended)

Subjects: Maths, ICT

The simulation game can lead into a rich range of Maths work on collecting and displaying data.

Get each pupil to log how many times they use a tap or toilet in a day. Collect the results and tabulate.

Using graphs, show how many times you would use taps and toilets as a class in a week.

By putting a bowl in a sink, collect and measure the water used on five visits to a school tap to wash hands. Find out the average amount used on each visit to the tap and work out average daily and weekly use.

The average toilet flush may use about nine litres of water, unless there is a short flush option, which may use four litres. Log the class’s toilet visits in one day and work out weekly use.

If you wanted to use this much water, but had to collect it in a 10L bucket, how many times would you have to fetch water?

Ask pupils to time each other carrying a pile of books for 50 metres. If the water you collected was 500 metres away, how long might this take per day, per week? More able pupils can work out the time it would take for 1, 2 and 3 kilometres. Are there any factors that might make water collection take more or less time?

Discuss which data would be most effective to show and how you would show it e.g. on PowerPoint, create a booklet, include on a poster.

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Further ideas for awareness raising and actionWrite short role plays or use the freeze dramas about Talent and Zimi’s lives and perform them to the school. Invite parents and governors to attend.

Hold a sponsored water carrying event involving pupils doing laps around the school field with buckets

Make frozen water pops and drinks to sell at a school event to raise money

Have bucket-related games at your school fair to raise money, eg. throwing coins into a bucket from a distance and receiving a small prize for getting the coin into the bucket, bucket lucky dip, or guessing exactly how much water is in a bucket.

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1. Real lives Rosena and Angel: Deadly water (30 mins)

Subjects: Geography, Citizenship, RE

You will need: Copies of Rosena and Angel’s story on p.27

Copies for pairs of the Convention of Rights of the Child (CRC): unicef.org.uk/Documents/Education-Documents/crc_summary_leaflet_2009.pdf?epslanguage=en

Aim: To show how lack of water can affect a child’s basic rights.

Ask the class to name any of their rights as in the Convention of Rights of the Child. Build up a list. Which do they think are really important? Then give out copies of the CRC to check. (If they have difficulty naming any of the rights, give out copies of CRC straightaway).

Give out copies of Rosena and Angel’s story to read in pairs. Which Rights of the Child were at risk when they had to get water from the river? (eg. 6, 17, 24, 28, 31, 32). Ask students for their reaction to Rosena and Angel’s story in the light of this information. (For less able students, mark the rights at risk on the CRC sheet or write them on the board to help them find how these rights might be affected in Rosena and Angel’s story.

2. The Water issues tree (20 mins)


You will need: Copies of The Water issues tree on p.28 for each group

Aim: To help students think critically about an issue and work together to think of solutions.

Give out copies of the Water issues tree for groups of 5-6 students.

Students must discuss in groups the roots of this problem of lack of clean water – and write these down. On the branches they must write the effects that lack of water has on people and their environment. They can then add fruit onto which they write possible solutions.

The groups can then look at each others’ trees and discuss similarities and differences.

These activities can be used in follow up lessons to the Life without Taps game or during an off-timetable day.



3. So what’s for the best? (15-20 mins)


You will need: Copies of the ‘Diamond 9’ ranking exercise (see p.29), cut out.

Aim: To help students to work cooperatively and critically towards finding effective solutions to a global issue.

The boxes on p.29 may include some of the solutions students have already mentioned, but also some new ideas. They now have the chance to think about what solutions would be the most effective.

Give out copies of the Diamond 9, cut up, to small groups. Ask students to consider the nine possible actions eg. building reservoirs, sinking boreholes. If they wish, they can replace one idea with an idea of their own in the ‘Another idea’ space.

Students place the nine cards in a diamond shape (or similar) to rank these, placing what they think would be most effective at the top and least effective at the bottom, with other actions placed somewhere between the two. If any group chooses an ineffective solution eg. sending taps, challenge this gently through questioning.

By asking a slightly different question, the diamond may change shape and order. For example: which are the most realistic forms of action? Which actions will have the most long term effect? What would be the cheapest solution? Which do you think the people in Zimbabwe living without clean water would prefer?



4. Planning action (30-60 mins)

Subjects: Citizenship, RE

You will need: Enough copies for small groups of Water Action Plan on p.30

Aim: To help students to represent their own and others’ views and plan realistic action.

Ask students to discuss in groups what action they would like to take, eg:

Organise an assembly or poster campaign in their school to get students thinking about the issues

Organise an eye-catching campaign in school to get signatures to send to the local MP and the Secretary of State for International Development, eg. writing signatures on large drinks bottles or on a long piece of blue wallpaper to be given to the MP to take to Parliament

Organise a fundraising activity that will help get others thinking about the issue of access to clean water.

>

>

>

Give out a copy of Water Action Plan for each group. If the class has access to computers, they could research current campaigns and water facts to use in their action and produce a poster to advertise it.

Each group then presents their ideas to the class for positive, polite comments. The class can vote on which action they would like to take in the school.



Talent’s story: Not much time to play.Match the photos to the story.

A This is Talent. She lives in a village near Gokwe in Zimbabwe with her parents and baby sister. She is just 8 years old.

PHOTO 1

PHOTO 2

PHOTO 3

PHOTO 4

PHOTO 5

PHOTO 6

B Talent has to get up very early in the morning and go to the river to collect water. Talent collects water three times a day, not just for herself, but as part of the water her family needs for jobs like cooking and cleaning.

C She and her mother Ketai don’t just dip a bucket in the river, they have to dig a hole in the dry river bed and then wait until it fills up.

D Talent needs to take water in a bottle to drink at school, as there is no water there. So do all the children at her school. All this time spent collecting water means that there is not much time for Talent to play with friends.

E Sometimes Talent struggles to concentrate at school because she is thirsty. At least once a year she gets ill with a stomach ache so bad she has to have time off school.

F Talent says ‘It would be better if there was a pump in the house. The tins are heavy and it hurts so much.’ Her mother says ‘It’s not good that my daughter has to worry about water.’



Zimi’s story: The difference clean water can make!

Ten year old Zimi lives with her Auntie Judith, a brother and two cousins in a remote village near Hwange in Zimbabwe.

The big problem for people in Zimi’s village is water. No-one has water in their homes, so all the water for drinking, cooking or washing has to be fetched and brought home.

Zimi collects water twice a day from one of two pumps in the village. Until recently, the pumps often broke down and then she would have to walk two or three hours to fetch water.

Zimi loves school, but even there she has to collect water from a borehole near the school so that she and the other pupils can have a drink and wash their hands.

When she is older, Zimi wants to have a tap and a toilet in her house, as she says, ‘If I had a tap inside, I wouldn’t have to carry a big bucket on my head. I hate carrying water because it is heavy and it hurts my neck.’

Zimi says ‘Living in a place without water is very hard. It means you have to walk a long way and you get tired.’

CAFOD has helped to fix the water pumps in Zimi’s village and now the pumps provide clean water all the time. This makes a big difference for Zimi and her family. Her Auntie Judith can grow more crops and earn more money selling vegetables for things like school fees, books and pencils.

Now toilets have been built in the village and at the school. Before that, Zimi and everyone else had to use holes in the ground outside. ‘Having toilets in the school means that we are more hygienic. We help at washing the toilets and keeping them clean,’ says Zimi.

‘Having water makes me feel safe,’ says Zimi.



Zimi collects water

from the village pump

with a friend.

Zimi washes up.

Pumping water.

Zimi and friends go to collect water at school.



Rosena and Angel’s story: Deadly water

Rosena (11) and Angel (15) live in Lusitu, Zambia, Southern Africa with their parents and six brothers and sisters. Zambia lies to the north of Zimbabwe. They both like sport; Angel loves playing football and Rosena plays netball. Apart from farming, the family has a small grocery store.

In their village there used to be a tap from a borehole, but it kept breaking down. Whenever this happened, Rosena, her mother and sisters would have to walk to a river 45 minutes away and usually then had to queue. They had to collect all the water they needed for drinking, washing, watering crops, cooking and cleaning. Sometimes their cattle died from lack of water.

The walk home from the river was always the worst part of the job, as the water containers were so heavy. Sometimes they took the dirty dishes to the river to wash up to save time or would avoid washing up.

Unfortunately, the water they were collecting was not even clean. Cattle drink from the same river and their droppings polluted the water and made people in Lusitu sick. Angel and Rosena’s family started buying chlorine to treat their water. Angel lost his friend Chiruba, who died after drinking the river water. His illness was so rapid there was no time to get him to the nearest clinic for treatment. Angel became very nervous of drinking the river water.

A year ago there was an outbreak of cholera, a very dangerous disease, common where people do not have clean water for drinking and washing hands. Rosena and Angel’s grandmother died in the outbreak. It was a shock to them that she died so quickly and was buried before they could say good-bye. The children go to her grave every day.

Since then, a new borehole provided with help from CAFOD, means that Rosena and Angel can fetch clean water from a pump five minutes away. They have more time to play sport and Rosena is not late for school.

No-one in Lusitu has contracted cholera since the borehole was installed (March 2012).



Make one copy per group or project onto whiteboard.

1 in 10 people without

clean drinking

water

>

Fruit – the solutions

>

Branches – the effects of the problem

Roots – the causes of the problem

>



KS3 follow up activityPhotocopy and cut out enough copies for 5 or 6 discussion groups.

Another i

dea...

Writ

e to your

local M

P to ask th

e

governm

ent and

world le

aders to

do

more

to m

ake

sure every

one has

clean w

ater.

Send taps and to

ilets

to Z

imbabwe.

Train

more

Zimbabweans to

mend w

ater p

umps

and give them

the

spare p

arts th

ey

need when th

ey

break down.

Stop p

eople in

‘rich’

countries usin

g cars

and flyin

g as much as

they do now.

Make to

urists

visiting Z

imbabwe

pay a tax to

wards

water s

upplies.

Raise m

oney for

a wate

r charit

y to

inst

all pum

ps in m

ore

villages in

countries

like Z

imbabwe.

Make sure

all

childre

n in Z

imbabwe

finish their

primary

school e

ducation,

inclu

ding girl

s.

Train

childre

n and

adults to

‘harv

est’

(collect)

water

from

roofs

in th

e

rain

y seaso

n.

Send wate

r

to Z

imbabwe.



KS3 follow up activityPhotocopy one per group.

In your group discuss how you can take action to help reduce the number of people living without access to clean water. Be imaginative, exciting, but also practical.

What is the main thing you will do?( Will it a. raise awareness of water issues b. raise money c. be part of a campaign d. do all of these?)

Who will you involve?

How will you do it?

What items will you need?

Will you need any money to take action and how will you get it?

How will you know if you have been successful?

What slogan will you use to attract people’s attention to what you are doing?

What do you hope to achieve? (e.g. the number of signatures, the amount of money you hope to raise, the number of people you hope to get thinking about the issue).



Further information and resources

Bridges ~ making global connections bridgesglobal.org.ukGlobal education charity working with schools and community groups for a fairer world. See website for services and downloadable resources for teachers including ‘Heroes and Heroines’ on the Millennium Development Goals.

CAFOD cafod.org.uk The official Catholic aid agency for England and Wales, CAFOD works with partners around the world to bring hope, compassion and solidarity to poor communities.

CAFOD educationcafod.org.uk/education This education section has many resources for primary and secondary teachers on water and related global issues.

See also CAFOD’s website for primary school children: cafod.org.uk/PictureMyWorld

Christian Aid Christian Aid’s schools’ website contains resources for primary and secondary teachers, including assemblies and classroom activities on water issues. learn.christianaid.org.uk

End Water Poverty is a global campaigning coalition to improve access to clean water and sanitation. For details of current campaigns and action, visit endwaterpoverty.org

Oxfam Oxfam’s schools website contains Water for All – resources for 9 -13 year olds including an interactive photo activity on water. oxfam.org.uk/education/resources/water_for_all/ There are also details of Oxfam’s annual Water Week.

The Millennium Development Goals For more information on these UN goals to reduce poverty by 2015, see un.org/millenniumgoals To view progress on Goal 7, which includes improving access to clean water and decent sanitation, see, endpoverty.org/2015

Wateraid Organisation working to improve access to safe water, hygiene and sanitation around the world. wateraid.org The Learnzone contains lesson plans for KS2 and KS3, case studies, videos and games. wateraid.org/international/learn_zone/teachers/

Bridges, The Studios, Mansell Road, Wellington, Telford, Shropshire TF1 1QQ

Tel: 01952 255526Email: [email protected] Charity no. 1112128.Company limited by Guarantee no. 5486119

CAFOD, Romero House, 55 Westminster Bridge Road, London, SE1 7JB

Tel: 020 7733 7900Email: [email protected] Charity no. 285776

Copyright Sylvia Ruxton 2012 @ Bridges ~ making global connections Photography: Paul Weinberg, Simon Rawles CAF2540

Life without taps

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